Seven Years After Her Debut, Karen Elson Is Back With a New Album

Yes, Karen Elson knows it's taken some time—seven years, to be exact—between her acclaimed 2010 debut album, The Ghost Who Walks, and her latest LP, Double Roses, out today. "But anybody who knows me intimately or in a close way knows that I am an extremely complicated and vulnerable feisty woman," Elson says, before breaking into a voluminous chuckle.

Heidi Ross

The U.K. native, who has long called Nashville home, describes herself as not "your typical model" and "never fitting the grain." It's clear from these analyses that she's been engaged in a process of self-discovery, which has naturally fed her music. The album, Elson explains, is a deep dive into the "tumultuous times" she's gone through, but also her understanding of herself as both an ever-evolving mother and artist. "These things take time," she says. "They really do. I had to get comfortable with my contradictions, and with owning who I am, and owning the woman I've become. And this record is ultimately a real reflection of that."

Elson makes it a point to emphasize the collaborative effort behind Double Roses, which came together thanks to a team including producer Jonathan Wilson (Jackson Browne, Robbie Robertson) and her friends Laura Marling, Father John Misty, and Black Keys drummer Pat Carney. But the album's 10 songs certainly feel like a woman purging personal, internal strife. Over haunting orchestral and acoustic arrangements, Elson unfurls a life in her crisp, elegant voice. The result is equal parts fairy tale and bumpy journey, ricocheting from aimless wandering ("Wonderland") to caustic pain ("Call Your Name") and ultimately forgiveness ("The End").

"It's funny," Elson says, when I suggest that it would be easy to attribute the album's themes and emotions to her 2013 divorce from Jack White, to whom she was married for six years. "Because Jack and I haven't been together in a number of years and there's a number of other things that have happened in my life that color this record profoundly," she explains.

Nonetheless, she understands the inclination. "I guess we all do it," she admits. "When I listen to Fleetwood Mac I often think about tumultuous times that they had. And obviously there are moments on my record of earlier songs I wrote that are tainted by loss and feeling lonely. But then there are other songs on the record that have absolutely [nothing to do with] my relationship with my ex-husband. But I understand the curiosity. I really do."

For Elson, taking her time to write and eventually record Double Roses was as much about carving out time for herself as it was experiencing life. "[Jack and I] were juggling so much and sometimes it became overwhelming to me," she says of her life as a mother and creative, which often found her stealing precious moments to write songs when her kids were at school. "I'm up at six in the morning, and then you've got to go to the parent-teacher meeting, you've got to host this party or that party," she says with a laugh. "I needed to completely isolate myself to make this record." She stops to clarify the last point: "I know tons of working mothers who are juggling and dealing with so much more than I have to deal with. But we're all in the same boat at the end. We're all stretched for time."

"It's so ridiculous in fashion how when you turn 35 you can be labeled as 'old'"

When Elson finally holed up in a Los Angeles studio for two months, she found herself possessed of a new kind of determination. In the past, she'd found herself deferring to male colleagues during the recording process. "The feminist in me gets a little annoyed because I'll notice that I'm unconsciously taking a back seat in certain scenarios because I don't want to come across like an amateur," Elson explains. Not this time, however: "I really took a front seat. And it was really nice because everyone I worked with believed in me."

In recent years Elson has learned to appreciate herself more. "I realize that I don't really have to fit in," she says. "I'm just going to continue to do what I love." But she can't help but get frustrated by the ageism that continues to permeate both the fashion and music industries. "It's so ridiculous in fashion how when you turn 35 you can be labeled as 'old,'" she remarks. Now that she's in her late thirties, she says this bias has started to show; she jokes that she's brought in as a "special novelty every so often." It's no wonder models feel pressure as time goes by, she says: "I see so many unhappy women who are struggling to preserve their physical body but also keeping up with appearances of staying young.... It's so sad."

On this point, Elson says she's taken positive inspiration from the recent Ryan Murphy-helmed FX show Feud, which focuses on the infamous tension between Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) and Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange); it also notably features 15 acting roles for women over 40. "It's given me this beautiful wake-up call to not get sucked into the rat race of trying to stay relevant and hang onto your youth," Elson says. "There's something about a woman who is proud of her age and beauty.... I find that so incredibly powerful."

After creating Double Roses, Elson says she feels rejuvenated. Despite it challenging her on an intimate level, she thinks it's transformed how she thinks about herself: "I now don't pigeonhole who I am anymore. All these facets are just part of me." And to keep that self intact, music remains her best recipe. "The beauty of playing music is that you can pick up a guitar or play a note on the piano, and all of a sudden these words start flowing out and you start making sense of things."

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
ELLE participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.